La Salle University La Salle University Digital Commons Explorer Café Explorer Connection Fall 10-15-2014 Is Money "Speech"? Michael J. Boyle PhD La Salle University, boylem@lasalle.edu Miguel Glatzer PhD La Salle University, glatzer@lasalle.edu Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/explorercafe Part of the American Politics Commons, and the Political History Commons Recommended Citation Boyle, Michael J. PhD and Glatzer, Miguel PhD, "Is Money "Speech"?" (2014). Explorer Café. 25. http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/explorercafe/25 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Explorer Connection at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Explorer Café by an authorized administrator of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact careyc@lasalle.edu.
Is Money Speech? Michael J. Boyle and Miguel Glatzer
Historical Background Prior to the 1970s, U.S. campaign spending was limited by an array of federal and state rules Restrictions on corporations, unions and federal employees Individuals were limited Corporate donations funneled through Political Action Committees (PACs)
Historical Background Following Watergate, a series of laws in the early 1970s tightened contributions of PACs and individuals to campaigns and parties Created Federal Election Commission 1976: Buckley vs. Valeo: Ruled that restrictions on campaign spending and finance violated the 1 st amendment Individuals and corporations could still have limits both to individual campaigns and across the electoral cycle
Historical Background Results: Explosion of PACs and individual funding Rise of soft money given to parties for campaign Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold) (2002) Bans soft money Banned funding from outside groups
Historical Background Citizens United (2010): Ruled that it was a violation of the First Amendment to limit the spending of an external group on a campaign Did not allow unlimited corporate donations, but unlimited corporate issue advocacy Result was the creation of Super PACS which can run ads on behalf of candidates
Historical Background McCutcheon vs. Federal Election Commission Ruled that aggregate limits on individuals campaign contributions were violation of the 1 st amendment Previous limit per cycle had been $117,000 per person Raises question about whether PAC donations limits will be rolled back
Campaign Funding per Year To each candidate To a national party To state, district and local committee To any other political committee Individual PAC Super PAC Non- Disclosing Groups $2600 $5000 $0 $0 $32,400 $15,000 $0 $0 $10,000 $5,000 $0 $0 $5,000 $5,000 $0 $0 Issue Advocacy Unlimited Barred Unlimited Unlimited Source: FEC, data from 2013
Data: President Election 2012 Candidate Barack Obama Mitt Romney Raised $715m $446m Spent $683m $443m With Super Pacs $1.10b $1.24b Top Sector Top Donors Lawyers and Lobbyists ($27m) University of California*, Microsoft, Google Small Money Donations 57% 24% Finance, Insurance and Real Estate ($58m) Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Source: https://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/
Questions: Should there be limits on political donations? What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so?
Limits on Political Donations? Yes Reduce corruption Reduce the appearance of corruption Increase trust in government Level the playing field between candidates More party competition No Free speech! More speech the better Should be free to criticize your government Campaigns are expensive Population is reliant on mass media
How Would We Limit Campaign Donations? How much can an individual donate to: Candidate? Party? To a Private Issue-Based Organization (e.g. NRA, Sierra Club?) In an Election Year? Should corporations, non-profits and unions be limited in the same way? Different way?
Disclosure How should disclosure work? Should every organization have to disclose its donors? How quickly available, and easily available, should that information be? Should individuals have the right to make a private, undisclosed donation to a candidate? Is sunlight enough to make the system better?
Public Financing? What are the advantages and disadvantages of public financing? How would we decide: Who gets public financing? How much public funding a candidate should receive? With a public financing system, do we: Ban private money? Limit private money?